Friday, September 19, 2014

When It Comes To Iraq, Barack Obama Has Been President Long Enough To See Himself Become The Villain



In 2007, a largely unknown, first-term Senator from Illinois rose to national prominence by having the courage to go against the status quo.

At the time, the Iraq War was raging. George W. Bush had just ordered an additional "surge" of 20,000 troops, bringing the total number of US combat forces in Iraq to more than 160,000.

Day after day, coffins draped in American flags were returning home, while more and more soldiers were losing their limbs from IED attacks. Sadly, many of those lucky enough to return home alive would be irrevocably damaged by PTSD.

Sure, we had toppled Saddam Hussein, but in doing so we'd thrown Iraq into an uncontrollable abyss of foreign occupation and sectarian violence. Meanwhile, Osama Bin Laden was still at large. It was a dark time in American history.

All of that changed when Barack Obama, then a vibrant, youthful-looking 47-year-old devoid of gray hair, courageously denounced the Iraq War, a directionless mess that was approaching its fifth year of bloodshed.

Obama gave us hope and promised change at a time when we desperately needed both. He vowed to rid America of costly, foreign entanglements that drained us of blood and treasure. He said he would reverse the disastrous policies of Bush and remove us from a perpetual war footing.

But now, some seven years later, Obama is bringing us back into Iraq, this time to fight a new war against a new enemy called ISIS.


FLASH FORWARD

When Obama entered the White House in January of 2009, he had a plethora of catastrophic issues to deal with, the biggest of which was an economy in free fall. 

The second most pressing issue was getting us out of Iraq.

While it may have taken Obama longer than many of us would have liked, he followed through with his campaign promise. By the end of 2011 the last remaining troops left Iraq. 

But with the rise of ISIS, Obama's vision for the Middle East has been turned on its head. Suddenly, out of sight is no longer out of mind. We may have left, but the damage caused by a decade of war and occupation has not.

Obama's foreign policy strategy of "Don't Do Stupid Stuff" is no longer sufficient. The stupid stuff we've already done is coming back to haunt us. It cannot be ignored. It must be addressed head on. 

As a result, Obama should embrace a new strategy of "Do Smart Stuff."

By that new standard, the American people must ask themselves- Is it smart for us to get into another war in Iraq, something we've been doing unsuccessfully for the past 20+ years? 

Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?


OBAMA BECOMES THE VILLAIN

Obama won the White House in 2008 by being the Anti-Bush candidate. He denounced the Iraq War and vowed to bring our troops home. He railed against the Patriot Act and promised to shut down Guantanamo Bay.

But here he is in 2014, nearly six years later, becoming the fourth straight President to launch a US military operation in Iraq. Just like that, we are back in the Middle East. We are back picking sides in a religious civil war, as if we've learned nothing from the past 20 years.

If history were written like a comic book, Obama would be remembered as a Harvey Dent-like President; someone with limitless potential and promise, someone we placed all of our hopes and dreams in, someone who we counted on to deliver real, substantial change. But in the end, just like Harvey Dent, Obama was corrupted by history and establishment politics, transformed right before our eyes from an outsider committed to changing the status-quo to an insider fighting to keep it.

As the famous Dark Knight quote goes, "You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

When it comes to Iraq, Obama was a hero in 2007 and 2008.

In 2014, he's officially been President long enough to see himself become the villain.

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